A couple more questions

[Jimlow]

WOW, this forum has been helpful. I also haven't been able to resist encouraging other Hashi & thyroid people.
I do have a couple more questions of you all out there. Do any of you suffer from something called "orthostatic intolerance"? This is where you get lightheaded and dizzy from a sudden blood pressure drop, when you stand up from a sitting or lying down position and it also causes an uncomfortable pressure type feeling in your head/neck (Now I sound like a hypocondriach). I remember having this going back to teen years but became much more frequent/worse when Hashi's attached itself to my life.
Here's another one, even wierder; sometimes I see what I call "twinkles of light" in my field of vision. They are bright little points of light that appear for only a couple or few seconds and fade out. They are never in the same spot and are not always the same color (now I sound crazy). These too I remember going way back but much more frequent since Hashi's.
WEIRD HUH! Anyone else experience either or both of these?
THANKS, The research goes on!

[ShannieK]

Hi, yes, I have had alot of trouble with dizziness, and feeling hightheaded, since diagnosed with Hashi's.  I get a real bad pressure in my head upon standing, and sometimes I have to just stand there and hold it for awhile until it goes to normal, wow, there's a name for it didn't know.  Just figured it was something else that is causing me problems.  My vision has also gotten terrible.  I can hardly see anymore, and it's gotten this bad in just under a year, I don't have flashes of light, but little black floaties all the time.  Yes, so many weird things happening, and can never seem to get use to them all.  Basically just feel terrible all the time.  But yes, I have experienced the same thing.  What's so strange, is I've always been healthy, no problems, felt great all the time, than out of the blue everything fell apart, dizziness, brain fog, lightheadedness, weight gain, hair loss, rashes, dry skin, joint and muscle pain, headaches, vision, and the list goes on.  It all came on one day, ended up in the hospital with all of this and heart palpitations and anxiety attacks.  My TSH came back normal, and antibodies didn't, so here I am.  Just wondering when I might feel well again.  How bout You?

[Jimlow]

Absolutely, I have had many times of wondering when will these symptoms get under control! I too had vision problems after getting Hashi's. ALSO: That was so interesting your mention of having to stand in one spot until the orthostatic intolerance passed. I've had people see me do this, plus I would steady myself with a hand on thw wall and they'd say "what's wrong?" and I'd say "just another dizzy spell from standing up!" This is also called Orthostatic Hypo-tension" and is a form of "dysautonomia", meaning an imbalance of the automonic nervous system (involuntary nervous system). This is the part of the N.S. that regulates blood pressure, heart rate etc... Dysautonimia sometimes co-exists with autoimmune diseases. Orth. Intol. is not suppose to be harmful or dangerous unless you fall down. They only reccomend treatment for it when it is so bad you actually pass out from it. All I know is it sure is a bummer! One last mention of this condition is that researchers have found O.I. to be a common component of both CFS and fibromyalgia, which are also now recognized as autoimmune diseases.
Thanks ShannieK for the imput.